Linky Friday: Cabinet Shopping, President Trump Style
White House photo
“No matter what time it is, wake me, even if it’s in the middle of a Cabinet meeting.” – Ronald Reagan
“The Bush Cabinet is quite interesting, there are no flashy people in there. No stars. They all seem quite focused and serious and knowledgeable about the areas to which they have been appointed.” – Morley Safer
“Obama’s Cabinet: From a Team of Rivals to the Usual Suspects” – David Rothkopf
“Three of Trump’s Cabinet selections have faced allegations of sexual misconduct” – NBC News, Yesterday
This is going to be a fun transition for the content creators as President-elect Trump fills out his administration
[LF1]
Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz’s withdrawl from The Washington Post
Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who served in the Trump White House in 2019 during his first impeachment becomes the second selection President-elect Donald Trump has made to lead the Justice Department. Former congressman Matt Gaetz, who’s been accused of sexual misconduct, announced earlier Thursday he would no longer pursue the Cabinet role. Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, is meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday after police records revealed new details about a sexual assault allegation against him. Vice President-elect JD Vance is accompanying Hegseth.
[LF2]
Inside the Lobbying Career of Trump’s New Chief of Staff from the New York Times:
Donald J. Trump’s first presidential transition was marked by chaos and vows to drain the swamp.
His second transition is moving more quickly, in part because of the leadership of a veteran operative who until earlier this year represented special interests of the sort he had once pledged to curb.
The appointment of that operative, Susie Wiles, to be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff in the White House signals that his second term, like his first, may not be as hostile to special interests as his campaign rhetoric suggested. It also underscores the utility of having advisers who understand the intersection of politics, business and government.
A longtime strategist and lobbyist for business interests and political campaigns, Ms. Wiles ran Mr. Trump’s campaign, and her trusted role in the new administration is already evident. She has been deeply involved in assembling Mr. Trump’s new executive office. Last week, she addressed an influential group of donors in Las Vegas, saying, among other things, that Mr. Trump planned to reinstate some of his prior executive orders that President Biden had revoked.
Ms. Wiles, 67, was registered as a lobbyist until early this year. She did not sever ties with Mercury Public Affairs, where she began working in 2022, until after she was named chief of staff on Nov. 7, said two people familiar with the timing who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Her appointment continues a tradition of onetime lobbyists being tapped for high-level government posts by presidents from both parties. They include Ron Klain, who was Mr. Biden’s first chief of staff, though his last disclosed lobbying activity was more than 15 years before he took the White House role.
[LF3]
Fighting ‘gender confusion’ and DEI: What to expect from Trump’s Education secretary pick from Politico
Linda McMahon — at first glance — appears a lot like her predecessor, Betsy DeVos. The Trump transition co-chair and former pro wrestling executive would bring a wealthy outsider’s view to the department. The country’s largest teachers’ union has even dubbed her “Betsy DeVos 2.0.” But McMahon is largely a blank slate when it comes to her views on education and the fiery culture war issues DeVos embraced, such as restricting transgender student rights.
“I really would prefer if everyone would take a deep breath, wait to see how McMahon talks about her views and approach to the role, and then let’s have the conversation,” said Frederick Hess, education director at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Her nomination would install a Trump loyalist into the position who, unlike some of the president-elect’s other nominees, could sail through a Senate nomination. She served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term after a landslide bipartisan confirmation vote.
The names of several Cabinet positions, including Chief of Staff, Ambassador to the United Nations and Education Secretary, along with the headshots of people who have been appointed, nominated or confirmed to those positions in the second Trump administration.
Trump Transition of Power 2025McMahon has spent most of her career in business, though she did serve a yearlong stint on the Connecticut Board of Education. Her limited education policy work has largely focused on alternatives to a four-year college degree, bolstering apprenticeships, and expanding Pell Grant eligibility to short-term training programs — all issues that have bipartisan support. And unlike others floated for her role, she has not appeared to speak publicly about transgender athletes, book bans or other fraught culture issues.
But the pro-Trump think tank she chairs, the America First Policy Institute, offers a likely outline of her policy agenda. The organization has campaigned against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher education, pushed to curb foreign influence at universities, and accused local K-12 school districts of promoting “gender confusion” among children.
“That is the real Project 2025,” said one former Senate Republican leadership aide, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation. “Those are the people who are really developing what Trump is going to be for.”
DeVos declined to comment but has voiced support for McMahon. The America First Policy Institute referred questions about McMahon to the Trump campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment.
[LF4]
Things to know about Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state from the AP
Rubio entered the 2016 presidential race, facing a crowded GOP field that included Trump. Rubio won Minnesota, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finished second and Trump third. His only other wins were in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
He left the race after Trump routed him in his home state. Trump took Florida with 45.7% of the vote, while Rubio was a distant second with 27%.
Rubio and Trump exchanged verbal jabs during the race, with Trump calling Rubio “Little Marco.” Rubio responded by insulting the size of Trump’s hands and calling him a “con artist” and “vulgar.”
Their relationship improved when Trump was in the White House. When ABC News earlier this year played back some of Rubio’s 2016 comments, he downplayed them, saying “It was a campaign.”
He remained close with Trump even after being passed up for vice president in favor of Ohio Sen. JD Vance. He traveled with the former president during the race’s final stretch, giving remarks in English and Spanish at multiple rallies on the campaign’s final day.
He often talks about foreign threats, especially from China
Rubio rode the tea party wave in 2010 to rise to national prominence. He campaigned by saying then-President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress threatened the nation’s economy by supporting disastrous domestic spending, tax and health care policies.As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Rubio now often discusses foreign military and economic threats, particularly China. He warns that China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are increasingly partnering against the United States.
“They all share one goal, and that is, they want to weaken America, weaken our alliances, weaken our standing and our capability and our will,” he said in a speech last March.
[LF5]
Trump names Dr. Mehmet Oz to head Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from CNN
Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality, ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2022 in Pennsylvania with Trump’s backing. He lost to Democratic now-Sen. John Fetterman.
In 2018, Trump appointed Oz to the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, reappointing him to the position in 2020.
Oz rose to fame as a frequent guest of Oprah Winfrey, eventually launching his own syndicated daytime TV talk show in 2009. Through “The Dr. Oz Show,” which won several daytime Emmy awards and reached millions of viewers, Oz became one of the most well-known doctors in the country.
His views on Covid-19, however, sparked controversy. Early on in the pandemic, for instance, Oz talked up the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a way to treat the coronavirus — despite the lack of firm scientific evidence that it was an effective treatment. Many of Oz’s perspectives were praised by Republicans at the time.
Oz’s selection continues Trump’s string of unconventional picks for key roles in his administration, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. If they are both confirmed, Kennedy would be Oz’s boss. For CMS administrator in his first term, Trump chose Seema Verma, who had a long history in health policy and consulting with a specialty in Medicaid.
[LF6]
Police report details woman’s 2017 allegations against Pete Hegseth, now Trump’s pick for defense secretary from CBS News
A woman told police she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report released late Wednesday.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.
News of the allegations surfaced last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday.
The 22-page police report, obtained by Mediaite, CBS News and other news outlets, was released in response to a public records request and offers the first detailed account of what the woman alleged transpired — one that is at odds with Hegseth’s version of events.
The report cited police interviews with the alleged victim, a nurse who treated her, a hotel staffer, another woman at the event and Hegseth.
[LF7]
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for top intel role, draws scrutiny over Russia comments from ABC News
Gabbard, 43, who represented Hawaii as a Democrat from 2013-2021 and ran for the party’s presidential nomination in 2020 before becoming a Republican earlier this year, has been accused of harboring sympathies for the Kremlin and parroting propaganda generated by Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine.
At the outset of the conflict, Gabbard blamed the Biden administration and NATO, claiming they had provoked Russia’s aggression by ignoring what she called its “legitimate security concerns” about Ukraine potentially becoming a member of the defensive alliance.
In March 2022, Gabbard posted a video to Twitter, now X, sharing what she said were “undeniable facts” about U.S.-funded biolabs in the war-torn country, claiming that “even in the best of circumstances” they “could easily be compromised.”
“Instead of trying to cover this up, the Biden-Harris administration needs to work with Russia, Ukraine, NATO, the U.N. to immediately implement a ceasefire for all military action in the vicinity of these labs until they’re secured,” she said.
About the same time, a commentator on Kremlin state media referred to her as “Russia’s girlfriend” and her comments have been featured on the country’s state-run TV programs, along with those of Tucker Carlson, an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement with Ukraine.
Gabbard’s claims closely mirror a false, decade-old Russian conspiracy theory that Washington is secretly funding the development of biological weapons in former Soviet countries, which has been repeatedly debunked by the U.S. and international organizations.
Although she later claimed her comments were about public health research labs in the conflict zone, she also expressed concerns that Ukraine was in possession of biological weapons during an interview with former Fox News host Carlson a few days before taking to social media.
[LF8]
You Know RFK Jr. Is Going to Be Bad. It Might Get Even Worse From Slate
How the hecking heck did we get here? Who is this RFK Jr. guy?
First of all, obviously, is the name. No one has grifted more from or brought more shame to a respected family. (He’s the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, who served as attorney general under JFK and was assassinated while campaigning for president.) He pulls a “do you know who I am” whenever he gets peeved, which is a lot. In two of my past jobs—as the science editor of the Washington Post, and before that the science editor of this magazine—he called up my boss’s boss to complain about our coverage of him. In both cases the boss’s boss asked me to talk with him because he’s a Kennedy, even though they knew he is wrong on vaccines and that the coverage I oversaw was right.
There are plenty of anti-vaccine grifters out there, people who make a lot of money selling books or vitamins, but nobody has spread misinformation more effectively than Kennedy, because people take his name seriously. He gets invited to give lectures. He has always gotten much more media coverage than a crank should. The majority of anti-vaccine ads on Facebook a few years ago (before the platform changed its ad policy) were paid for by an organization Kennedy ran and one other anti-vax group. So-called vaccine skepticism isn’t a grassroots movement of concerned parents who just want to do right by their kids. It’s a well-funded conspiracy theory.
People recognized Kennedy’s name and gave him a disturbing amount of support in early polls when he ran for president. His campaign was largely funded by conservative donors to serve as a spoiler for Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris. (His family hates him, and they endorsed Biden over Kennedy.)
He pulled out of the race, endorsed Trump, and as spoils for that endorsement is now nominated to oversee HHS, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, Medicare, Medicaid, and basically all federal health infrastructure and medical research funding. It’s a fucking catastrophe.
[LF9]
Greene and House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., have met with Ramaswamy and his team and are “already working together,” a person familiar with the matter told CNBC on Thursday.
Comer aims to establish the subpanel early next year, the source said.
Greene’s group will be dubbed the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, allowing it to share the DOGE acronym with the outside-of-government entity commissioned by President-elect Donald Trump.
“I’m excited to chair this new subcommittee designed to work hand in hand with President Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and the entire DOGE team,” Greene said in a statement to CNBC.
She said her panel will lead to the firings of government “bureaucrats,” and vowed to “provide transparency and truth to the American people through hearings.”
“No topic will be off the table,” Greene said.
The congressional version of DOGE, first reported Thursday by Fox News, shares goals similar to the one led by the two billionaires. It aims to investigate government waste and seek out ways to reorganize federal agencies and cut red tape, said the person familiar with the matter.
[LF10]
Rancher, Politician, Trump Ally: Who Is Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Pick? from the NY Times
In a memoir published this year, Ms. Noem wrote about her exposure to foreign leaders and stated that dealing with them took “resolve, preparation and determination.”
She faced widespread criticism from her political opponents because of another anecdote she included in the memoir, in which she described killing a family dog she called “untrainable” and “dangerous.” Many people have speculated that this story led to her chances of being Mr. Trump’s running mate to quickly deteriorate.
In the pre-publication version of the book, Ms. Noem wrote about meeting with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, during her tenure in Congress. She recounted her experience staring down “little tyrants.”
The claim stirred controversy and prompted questions from news outlets that had obtained early copies of the memoir. While avoiding direct responses to questions about whether the meeting occured, Ms. Noem said the anecdote should not have been in the book and the text would be updated before publication.
[LF11]
Last time, it took Donald Trump over six months to name an ambassador to Canada. This time, he has named one quickly, tabbing former congressman and former ambassador Pete Hoekstra to the post. For The News Forum network in Canada, OT’s own Andrew Donaldson discussed the posting:
